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HelpRe: Iris and Ivy
in reply to a message by mirfak
Ivy as a pest plant-I was astonished to see it growing all over, when we lived in Tasmania. Here, I have a hard time getting it to grow as a house plant, they always die.
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I've inadvertently killed potted ivy several times myself! But English ivy fills one corner of my backyard, having spread from the neighbors', and has to be cut back twice a year because it would fill the yard in a few years if we let it. Big, fat vines - even right under the evergreens, where nothing much can get going. I found out only last year that it threatens wild forest plants significantly, and is an officially designated Class C Noxious Weed in Washington state.
(It doesn't hold a candle to the invasive Himalayan blackberry, though, IMO, which is absolutely everywhere. Forms huge hideous thickets as tall as a house, and it has deep roots that allow it to come right back with full-sized vines if it's torn out. Hate! You can't kill it with fire, even goats don't destroy it - and the berries are rarely any good. At least ivy has the ability to be kind of pretty sometimes.)
(It doesn't hold a candle to the invasive Himalayan blackberry, though, IMO, which is absolutely everywhere. Forms huge hideous thickets as tall as a house, and it has deep roots that allow it to come right back with full-sized vines if it's torn out. Hate! You can't kill it with fire, even goats don't destroy it - and the berries are rarely any good. At least ivy has the ability to be kind of pretty sometimes.)
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Again Australia-blackberries were brought there, way back, I suppose, and they loved the climate more than England's. At least in Tasmania, I don't know about the rest of AU.
The sheep farmers dislike them, as they replace the grass, and have big thorns that the sheep get tangled up in.
At least the berries are great-I use to buy them at markets, and jams and jellies people made.
I didn't pick them, though.somehow the thickets looked snakey, though I doubt the snakes liked blackberries, or crawling over thorns. I was wary of snakes in Australia, as the snakes we have in my province are mild-mannered garter snakes that I've never heard of biting anyone, and certainly not venomous.
I'd never heard of Himalayan blackberry.Invasive species, so easy to take hold, so hard to eradicate.
The sheep farmers dislike them, as they replace the grass, and have big thorns that the sheep get tangled up in.
At least the berries are great-I use to buy them at markets, and jams and jellies people made.
I didn't pick them, though.somehow the thickets looked snakey, though I doubt the snakes liked blackberries, or crawling over thorns. I was wary of snakes in Australia, as the snakes we have in my province are mild-mannered garter snakes that I've never heard of biting anyone, and certainly not venomous.
I'd never heard of Himalayan blackberry.Invasive species, so easy to take hold, so hard to eradicate.
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